TEXT 32
gopair makhe pratihate vraja-viplavaya
deve 'bhivarsati pasun krpaya riraksuh
dhartocchilindhram iva sapta-dinani sapta-
varso mahidhram anaghaika-kare salilam
SYNONYMS
gopaihby the cowherd men; makhein offering a sacrifice to the King of heaven; pratihatebeing hampered; vraja-viplavayafor devastating the whole existence of Vrajabhumi, the land of Krsna's pastimes; deveby the King of heaven; abhivarsatihaving poured down heavy rain; pasunthe animals; krpayaby causeless mercy upon them; riraksuhdesired to protect them; dhartaheld up; ucchilindhramuprooted as an umbrella; ivaexactly like that; sapta-dinanicontinuously for seven days; sapta-varsahalthough He was only seven years old; mahidhramthe Govardhana Hill; anaghawithout being tired; eka-karein one hand only; salilamplayfully.
TRANSLATION
When the cowherd men of Vrndavana, under instruction of Krsna, stopped offering sacrifice to the heavenly King, Indra, the whole tract of land known as Vraja was threatened with being washed away by constant heavy rains for seven days. Lord Krsna, out of His causeless mercy upon the inhabitants of Vraja, held up the hill known as Govardhana with one hand only, although He was only seven years old. He did this to protect the animals from the onslaught of water.
PURPORT
Children play with an umbrella generally known as a frog's umbrella, and Lord Krsna, when He was only seven years old, could snatch the great hill known as the Govardhana Parvata at Vrndavana and hold it for seven days continuously with one hand, just to protect the animals and the inhabitants of Vrndavana from the wrath of Indra, the heavenly King, who had been denied sacrificial offerings by the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi.
Factually there is no need of offering sacrifices to the demigods for their services if one is engaged in the service of the Supreme Lord. Sacrifices recommended in the Vedic literature for satisfaction of the demigods are a sort of inducement to the sacrificers to realize the existence of higher authorities. The demigods are engaged by the Lord as controlling deities of material affairs, and according to the Bhagavad-gita, when a demigod is worshiped the process is accepted as the indirect method for worshiping the Supreme Lord. But when the Supreme Lord is worshiped directly there is no need of worshiping the demigods or offering them sacrifices as recommended in particular circumstances. Lord Krsna therefore advised the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi not to offer any sacrifices to the heavenly King Indra. But Indra, not knowing Lord Krsna in Vrajabhumi, was angry at the inhabitants of Vrajabhumi and tried to avenge the offense. But, competent as the Lord was, He saved the inhabitants and animals of Vrajabhumi by His personal energy and proved definitely that anyone directly engaged as a devotee of the Supreme Lord need not satisfy any other demigods, however great, even to the level of Brahma, or Siva. Thus this incident definitely proved without a doubt that Lord Krsna is the Personality of Godhead and that He was so in all circumstances, as a child on the lap of His mother, as a boy 7 years old, and as an old man of 125 years of age. In either case He was never on the level of the ordinary man, and even in His advanced age He appeared a young boy 16 years old. These are the particular features of the transcendental body of the Lord.

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